Published on
1 May 2018
More than 20 years ago, Barnardo’s began tackling sexual abuse, calling attention to a “taboo” issue, when few others dared. Since then we’ve come a long way in increasing awareness and improving support for the victims of child sexual abuse (CSA), but there’s still much more to be done.
Our frontline services are now identifying an emerging trend of sexual abuse linked to criminal exploitation, where vulnerable children are coerced into criminal behaviour, including through so-called “county lines” activity, where children are used to traffic drugs from one area of the country to another. This research demonstrates that vulnerable children and young people are increasingly at risk from interconnected forms of adversity.
